The word order for "before"

My question is about the location of "before" and "by". I am not sure which one should be close to "learn".

Chinese people are trying to learn their babies' gender by looking at the calendar before they are born.

My intended meaning is:

Chinese people are trying to learn their babies' gender by looking at the calendar. When are they trying to learn it? Before they(their babies) are born.

So, which one is better?

1-) Chinese people are trying to learn their babies' gender by looking at the calendar before they are born.

or

2-) Chinese people are trying to learn their babies' gender before they are born by looking at the calendar.

I think that the second sentence is wrong because it indicates that they are born by looking at the calendar.(Funny)

Subordinate clauses should be used at the beginning or at the end, but not in the middle.

The first sentence is grammatically correct but has a possibility to give a meaning a little bit different from what I want.

If "before they are born" is considered to refer to "looking", the meaning can be changed a little. Because it is intended to refer to "learn", not "looking". So that's why I am not sure if the first one is what I am looking for.

What do you think? Thanks in advance.